Whether for your business or personal use, there are a wide range of software suites and products available, covering nearly any use or need you can imagine. In the early digital years, a few giants dominated nearly every sub-field, but now a variety of competitors offer alternatives.

In this environment, it can be hard to decide what software to use. While not all situations are the same and best products will vary, in many cases the proper choice is the same: Microsoft.

Microsoft has been around long enough to be seen in some ways as the well-established dinosaur. However, there’s a reason that Microsoft has been around for as long and made as much money as it has. Using Microsoft confers a number of advantages upon users, some of which make the difference between choosing it and its competitors.

Here are four of the biggest advantages Microsoft offers.

1. Universality

One of the biggest advantages to using Microsoft products is that you’re far from alone in doing so. As one of the largest and longest tenured software companies, Microsoft has integrated itself into nearly every aspect of the digital world.

Over 120 million users are currently using the Microsoft Office 365 software suite, and Office is by far the number one general business tool for digital based work. What this means is that if you plan to interact with other people in your personal or professional life, there’s a pretty good chance that many or most of them are using Microsoft products too.

This means it’s easy to share files and communicate with one another, as Microsoft products are obviously tailored to work well with one another. Using Microsoft software often times is the status quo choice, and by choosing it you will work seamlessly with the majority of other Microsoft users.

2. Embracing Cloud and Mobile Computing

In today’s digital environment, the two largest user trends have been the expansion of Cloud data storage and management and the rise of mobile computing. We currently possess more computing power in our mobile devices than the computers used by NASA on the Apollo mission in space. And more and more, we embrace the concept of off-device data storage.

These two concepts have revolutionized the way we interact with the digital world, and Microsoft has been at the forefront of embracing both trends. Their Cloud data storage is both secure and expansive, and they’ve been building solutions and software packages for mobile devices for more than a decade.

They offer a variety of solutions for Cloud data management to fit a variety of needs. From simple structures able to handle small-scale data storage to more advanced tools like Azure HDInsight for Big Data or Bi on Amazon Redshift , Microsoft has products tailored to fit the user’s needs.

3. Security

In the era of Cloud data storage, security is even more of a tantamount concern than it was before. When you store your data remotely in any form, you’re relying on the trustworthiness and security integrity of your storage provider.

Microsoft is at the absolute top of the line when it comes to data integrity. All data stored in the Cloud via Microsoft is housed within Microsoft’s servers, which are located within data centers and protected with top tier security. If you’re concerned about making sure your data is safe and untampered with, Microsoft is a solid choice.

4. Tools for Collaboration

Another benefit to Microsoft being such a widespread and established company is that lots of other software companies design their products to work in conjunction with and support the Microsoft platform. This means that not only do you get the benefit of the wide range of Microsoft products, but also those supporting ones from other designers.

All in all, the advantages of using Microsoft products are significant. That’s not to say that the right choice is always to go with a Microsoft product. However, more times than not, there are benefits to sticking with Microsoft.